In response to my recent call in the Huffington Post for less focus on Aid to Africa, and rather an increase in support for investments and enterprise, there were a lot of cynical comments, and other more respectful responses. I had to further clarify my stand that unlike Dambisa Moyo who believes that Aid is dead, I am more of the opinion that Aid is dying , and still has an important but very limited role (especially during humanitarian disasters like in the Horn of Africa) especially for development. Rather I advocate support for enterprise for its role to lift nations out of poverty.

Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome.

Hence, I was highly elated to meet with Dr Kim Tan of the Transformational Business Network at the recent Harambe Rome Forum held between September 2-4, 2011 in Rome Italy, and not only listen to such an established entrepreneur voice the same opinion, but I also found out he had co-authored a book titled “Fighting Poverty Through Enterprise; the case for social venture capital” which is free for download. It may take time to wean Africa off Aid, but then Rome was not built in a day!

I have already related my interest and motivation to attend the Harambe Rome Forum in my September 1 blog post , and the obstacles I had to overcome to get to Rome

Several days now after returning from Rome, and several thousand dollars poorer, I have no regrets for having taken the decision to attend the event, and I feel honored to have been part of what one of the participants rightly described as “a precision event with lots of gemstones and cross-pollination of ideas.”

Entrance to the Vatican

As a social media enthusiast, I therefore present to you a collection of my gemtweets (tweets on a piece of paper!) from the event which I hope you will find inspiring, and I look forward to the next Harambe Forum!

Harambe Tweets on a Piece of Paper

Kickoff

#haramberomeforum kicked off with intro-Lisa from LBS, Tanya from Actis,Director-Acton Inst.,Vatican rep,Theo from Nestle. #socent

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About Idris Ayodeji Bello

Afropreneur & Partner, LoftyInc Ltd (Operators of the Wennovation Hub)
Leading expert in deploying technology and innovation to drive public sector reforms and enabling good governance.
Passionate about bringing about positive change in Africa through innovation and entrepreneurship!